US shows progress against drug trafficking and cartels

He Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported on Wednesday the progress made during 2024 by the Biden Administration in the fight against drug cartels and Drug trafficking of fentanyl and other drugs.

The federal agency reported in a statement that it remains on the front line of the fight against cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) that are flooding the country with illicit synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl and He called on Congress to authorize more resources and authorities for this fight.

DHS has stopped more illicit fentanyl and arrested more people for fentanyl-related crimes in the past two fiscal years than in the previous five years combined.

DHS Actions to Combat Fentanyl and Other Drugs in 2024

• Arrested more than 3,600 subjects related to fentanyl seizures, directly impacting the organized criminal networks responsible for introducing fentanyl into our communities.

• More than 2,200 pill presses seized.

• More than 27,000 pounds of illicit fentanyl were seized to stop it at our borders and in our communities before it can harm the American public. These seizures were conducted by DHS component agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

• The fentanyl seizures CBP’s total so far in fiscal year 2024 amounts to 738.5 million doses and 5,874 narcotics-related investigations were initiated at HSI.

• Continued to implement new non-intrusive inspection (NII) technology to Intercept even more fentanyl before it enters the United States and millions of dollars were invested in advanced analytical solutions including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to identify and dismantle transnational criminal organizations and their illicit supply chains.

• Engaged and partnered with state and local law enforcement through task forces, which eliminate barriers between federal and local investigations and enhance collaboration with international partners on multinational criminal investigations.

Building on these efforts, The Biden-Harris Administration is seeking legislation in Congress to increase penalties for those bringing in lethal drugs our communities and close the legal loopholes exploited by drug traffickers.

The Biden-Harris legislative proposal for “Detect and defeat” the use of fentanyl would provide border officials the tools they need to more effectively track and attack the millions of low-value shipments that cross our borders, thus closing a legal loophole that drug traffickers exploit, because These shipments do not have the inspection requirements to sufficiently prevent drug trafficking.

The legislative proposal would help DHS, and CBP in particular, Effectively pursue the abuse of “de minimis” shipments, about 4 million low-value shipments every day which are currently subject to less stringent reporting requirements than higher-value shipments. CBP would have the authority to require additional documentation and other information on de minimis packages.

These low-value, small-portion shipments range from minor quantities of illegal fentanyl pills to precursor chemicals, pill press machines, die molds, and pill press parts used in the manufacturing process.

And in the fight to keep fentanyl out of our communities, DHS is also partnering with federal, state and local authorities to share information and track and disrupt fentanyl networks within our communities.

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